Acquainted
by 815
Summary: He never really knew him, but he seemed familiar. — Naruto


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, etc.

**Summary:** He never really knew him, but he seemed familiar. ( Naruto )

* * *

_I see a picture on the wall_  
_And I wonder who you are._

* * *

Naruto never really knew him.

All he knows is that he was the fourth Hokage – the Yondaime. He remembered when he was little and he had messed up the heads on the Hokage monument. Back then, he never really understood himself either. And the Yondaime was just another Hokage to beat – a rival.

But he sees pictures.

He sees one on top of the dresser by Kakashi-sensei's bed. He had blonde hair. It was spiky like his. And he seemed tall. Naruto wonders if he'll ever grow that tall. And he was a genius. The boy narrows his eyes in thought. Does that mean he's a genius too? He scratches his head, digging into that thought for a moment, then shrugged it off. It was ok. He was used to being called "stupid" by now. But he'll show them one day. He'll show the Fourth too.

Naruto doesn't really know him, so he thinks of him as a rival.

So far, he's only been learning techniques that had been invented by the Hokage. Naruto huffs, but then grins. That's ok! He's invented his own jutsu too! The Sexy no Jutsu! He even defeated the Third Hokage by it. Naruto nods his head confidently. But then he frowns. He wonders if the Fourth would ever be defeated by such a thing. His frown deepens.

Probably not.

* * *

Naruto goes to visit Tsunade. He's now fifteen. About two years have passed.

The ninja goes through the hallways and spots a portrait of the Yondaime. The boy looms closer, forgetting about his visit to the Hokage. Instead, he plants himself right in front of the picture. His eyes widen in surprise at what he sees. The Fourth has blue eyes too. Bright blue ones.

He always sees the Fourth in small pictures. He never notices his eyes before.

They're deep blue and Naruto sees how they reflect passion and determination. He has blue eyes too. The boy looks up at the portrait. He wonders if people see his eyes like he sees the Hokage's eyes. He stands there for awhile, just looking up. And then, for the first time, the boy smiles as he looks up at the Yondaime. And then Naruto decides that he doesn't like the term "rival" anymore.

He likes the term of hero.

The boy snaps back to attention and scratches his head sheepishly. "Old Lady Tsunade will probably be wondering where I am right now," he says to no one in particular. "If I'm lucky, I'll probably get only one punch this time."

He walks off - away from the portrait.

* * *

The boy leaves his money at the ramen stand in Konoha. He has eaten an early dinner tonight.

Naruto goes to the Hokage monument. He likes to go there to watch the sunsets. Maybe he'll bring someone along with him one day. Today he climbs on top of the Yondaime's head. He feels like he's been there before. He has.

He just never realizes it most of the time.

He sits there and thinks for a moment as he watches the sun go down. He thinks of blue and then he thinks of the Hokage's eyes. He lies down on top of the monument and he lifts his face up at the sky. The monument really wasn't one of the best places to see what the Fourth looked like. That's because he was the color of the earth.

But Naruto has seen pictures.

He can fill in the details by himself whenever he looks up at the monument now. The boy smiles up at the sky as he closes his eyes in sleep. He has seen a few pictures of the Yondaime, but he feels like he's known him for a long time.

Naruto thinks of him as a friend.

* * *

Years past and Naruto grows old. And like all living things, they come to an end one day.

His friends have all passed away. But he believes that he will see them again. He knows.

Naruto's end was a great one. And, like he said, he became the sixth Hokage and graced the features of the stone himself. He wanted his face to be next to the Yondaime, but the elders told him that it was best that they go in chronological order. The man shrugged, seemingly indifferent. It was an honor to be placed on the monument. Naruto didn't really mind. It was ok. But he thought it would look cooler if he was next to him. The Hokage was wondering if they would look almost the same from far away.

Then he briefly thought, if he died, will it rain? He didn't like the rain. In all those sad movies, he saw it raining at the most depressing scenes. It rained on the Third Hokage's funeral, too. That's when he decided he hated the rain. A lot.

Naruto decided that he didn't want it to rain on his funeral. That would mean that it was a depressing scene and then people would most likely be sad. The man laughed. Funerals weren't really supposed to be happy either, but he didn't like the fact that it would be raining when he died.

But he went back to work anyway and didn't think about it until the time came.

The Hokage was buried under the monument.

It was a sunny day.

* * *

Naruto wakes up. And he twitches at the white that's everywhere. He frowns. There should be orange! Lots of it too! He grins like a giddy child, but then his mouth lumps back into a frown. Where exactly _was_ he?

He gets up and is surprised when he looks at his hands. They were small and they were about the size of a twelve-year-old. His limbs feel strong. He rotates one shoulder and is surprised to find that he is flexible. It feels as if he has just woken up from his sleep in the morning - sore, but still able to get up. On an impulsive moment, he begins to run. He runs and he runs through wherever he is and he feels joy as the wind blows against his face. He closes his eyes.

And then he opens them.

They widen in surprise as he's back in Konoha. And he sees Sakura by the gates with Sasuke and Kakashi there too. Iruka is there with his hands on his hips like he always was when he saw Naruto again.

As he peers in closer at the village, he sees that many people are there. A girl twirling a kunai in one hand standing next to a stoic boy. An excited boy jumped up behind them as he stretched his limbs. Naruto twitches at his green spandex, but he shrugs off the feeling.  
His eyes look even deeper and he sees three people sitting in the grass. One was yelling her head off at both of them, one was eating, and another was just staring at the clouds.  
Another group of three was nearby in the ramen stand. One had his hands in his pockets, one was petting his dog, and another was smiling shyly.

But the village seems bigger than the one back home. The boy doesn't really care that much though. He runs to his friends who are at the gate.

But he sees a flash of white before he makes it to them, and the next thing he knows, he's standing in front of the Hokage monument. He's a little confused at where he is at first, but then Naruto smiles brightly as he sees his head still carved on the surface. Then his eyebrows lift as he sees that his head is carved in between Tsunade's head and… the Yondaime's head. His eyebrows lift even higher as he sees who's standing on it.

The Fourth.

Naruto rubs his eyes – not believing what he's seeing. But when he opens them, he's in front of the Yondaime himself. Naruto gapes at him, but the man merely smiles. The boy's muscles slowly relax into their regular forms as he senses no hostility from the man. Naruto watches as his smile gets slightly larger.

He extends a hand.

Naruto looks at his hand back to the Yondaime's face. Then, slowly, he pulls out his own and held it in front of him. The man clasps it tightly, and then moves it up and down. The boy understands as he follows his motion, moving up and down as well. He grins at the sudden change of atmosphere. It was friendly.

It was a handshake.

"Hi," the Yondaime says. "You know me as the fourth Hokage, right?" His voice is confident and baritone. A little cheeky too. Naruto thinks it has a nice sound to it - a familiar sound - and his grin gets wider.

Naruto nods. "It's nice to meet you."

The man laughs as he shakes his head. Naruto cocks his head to the side in confusion. He watches as the Fourth takes back his hand and uses it to ruffle the top of head, messing up the hair, in a playful way.

"You already know me."

* * *

_You look familiar._  
_I have a feeling I've seen you before._

* * *

**A/N.** Hum… This just came to me today. Heh. I decided to write it before it slipped out of my mind. But… yeah. I wanted to write a Naruto story since he's my favorite character.

Quotes/poem-thing that was used was created by me on the spot. XD


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